TECHNOLOGY

Information about AI from the News, Publications, and Conferences

If you are looking for an answer to the question What is Artificial Intelligence? and you only have a minute, then here's the definition the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence offers on its home page: "the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines."

However, if you are fortunate enough to have more than a minute, then please get ready to embark upon an exciting journey exploring AI (but beware, it could last a lifetime) …

If you're playing around with Google's new Home Max or Mini smart speakers, or if you're just using an Android phone such as the new Pixel 2, you may be familiar with the Google Assistant virtual helper. And if you've done so in the last couple days, you may have noticed that the virtual assistant's voice is sounding more realistic than before. That's because Alphabet's Google has started using a cutting-edge piece of technology called WaveNet--developed by its DeepMind "artificial intelligence" division--in Google Assistant. WaveNet represents a different approach that uses recordings of real speech to train a neural network--a computer model that simulates a brain of sorts.

He looks for ways to test and assess "How we might Live" with the technology and how it will adapt our lives, our cultures and move humanity onwards to greater things delivered through Open IoT Ecosystems in Smart Living and IoT3. "we used to wait until the washing machine broke down, to arrange a service engineer, then we took out a service contract so they would call us, with our IoT machine, it calls the engineer, or shop and they just charge our account when we get the service or comestibles we need to do our washing, but we still need to check we have not been over charged" Modern convince has only changed the stress points in our lives, from analog, to digital and from servant, to master and onward to accountant. The wide distribution of blockchain technologies afford the ability to remove several of key aspects of speculation. And what happens to everyone else who can't transition between Digital Living into Smart Living, because of the loss of freedoms, due to not having the skills to function in Smart Living or just not being invited?

Deep learning, a variation of Machine Learning (ML), represents the major driver toward artificial intelligence(AI), reports Gartner. Gartner's 2017 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies notes deep learning is receiving additional attention because it harnesses cognitive domains that were previously the exclusive territory of humans, mainly image and voice recognition and text understanding. Today, most common use cases of ML through deep learning are in image, text and audio processing -- but increasingly also in predicting demand, determining deficiencies around service and product quality, detecting new types of fraud, streaming analytics on data in motion, and providing predictive or even prescriptive maintenance. Gartner's advice for harnessing deep learning and related technologies around Machine Learning include starting with simple business problems for which there is consensus about the expected outcomes, and gradually moving toward complex business scenarios.

What happens to Amazon's strategy as their data scientists, engineers, and machine learning experts work tirelessly to dial up the accuracy on the prediction machine? That said, one can imagine a scenario where Amazon adopts the new strategy even before the prediction accuracy is good enough to make it profitable because the company anticipates that at some point it will be profitable. Today, in the case of AI, some companies are making early bets anticipating that the dial on the prediction machine will start turning faster once it gains momentum. In 2016, GM paid over $1B to acquire AI startup Cruise Automation, and in 2017, Ford invested $1B in AI startup Argo AI, and John Deere paid over $300M to acquire AI startup Blue River Technology – all three startups had generated negligible revenue relative to the price at the time of purchase.

Large wealth management firms – like the Big Six banks – eat into the market share. On the other side, robo-advisors are also eroding independent firms' market share, appealing to tech-savvy investors preferring the low-cost model and the mobile convenience that robos offer. Rather than competing with small, independent wealth management firms, it unveiled a new platform to help them. "On the one side we're working with certified financial planners" whose clients are invested in automated, low-cost ETF [exchange-traded fund] portfolios instead of higher-fee mutual funds.

"There is a fundamental disconnect between what we roboticists say and what the public perceives," says Ian Reid, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, in Brisbane. And that leads to the heart of the problem, and what researchers mean when they talk about "robotic vision": using cameras to guide robots to carry out tasks in increasingly uncontrolled environments. Is this another of Ian Reid's "disconnects" between the research world and the public's sci-fi driven expectations? "In rich countries like Japan where there are also demographic challenges, you will see a big increase in social robotics – in aged, robotic companions and robotic pets," Mahony predicts.

He was fired from Uber in May amid allegations that he had stolen trade secrets from Google to develop Otto's self-driving technology. Religions, Harari argues, must keep up with the technological advancements of the day or they become irrelevant, unable to answer or understand the quandaries facing their disciples. Benek argues that advanced AI is compatible with Christianity – it's just another technology that humans have created under guidance from God that can be used for good or evil. We don't know whether Levandowski's Godhead ties into any existing theologies or is a manmade alternative, but it's clear that advancements in technologies including AI and bioengineering kick up the kinds of ethical and moral dilemmas that make humans seek the advice and comfort from a higher power: what will humans do once artificial intelligence outperforms us in most tasks?

Goldman Sachs has been particularly active in the last 2 years, backing 4 unique companies applying AI in financial technology. Deals and dollars to startups using AI algorithms reached record levels in 2016. Fintech deals and funding are on track to reach record highs in 2017. Just this year, over 15 companies using AI in fintech raised equity funding rounds.

"Through 3D printing, fast automation, artificial intelligence, advanced IT systems," Weber said. His lab recently trained a Baxter assembly robot to understand and respond to natural language commands. Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and AI Lab (CSAIL) recently revealed their similar efforts, which they've dubbed ComText -- as in "commands in context". The current problem is that robots generally see the world at a relatively low level -- in pixels and sensor readings -- but humans see it as related concepts, connected to form reasoning and higher order thinking, Paul explained.

Speaking to Computer Weekly about the results of the study, Capgemini global CTO Ron Tolido said: "In the short and mid-term, the benefits of AI are based on using off-the-shelf products to apply AI for a specific purpose, then training the AI to make it work." One example cited in the report is investment bank JP Morgan, whose lawyers spend thousands of hours studying financial deals. Among the areas Tolida expects to benefit from AI augmentation are customer service and the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). "At Capgemini, we use AI for service management, cyber security, development and testing," he added.